“And Oran could just be helping Bavol, as well,” Mara offered. “We’re jumping to conclusions. He might not be the Master Gardener. Esau, didn’t you think it might be someone from the Greenblade Clan?”

“Yes. They have a few experts with the knowledge and skills, as well,” Esau said.

“Have you met Oran Cinchona Zaltana?” Yelena asked Janco.

“Not that I can recall,” he said.

“Hold on,” Esau said. He pulled a notebook and a thin piece of charcoal from his pack. Drawing a quick sketch of an older man, Esau turned the page to face Janco. “Is this the man you saw in the Greenblade hothouse?”

“Yes! But why does he look so familiar?”

“You’ve met Bavol, correct?”

“Yes...” Janco wasn’t sure where this was going.

Esau drew a picture of Bavol next to Oran. “They are half brothers.”

Ah! Finally, they had a name and a face for the Master Gardener. Except the Ixians were the only ones who looked happy about it. Nutty wilted, and Yelena fidgeted with the fabric of her tunic.

“What about the other person with Oran?” Onora asked Nutty.

“Can you describe him?” Esau asked.

“Her,” she corrected him. Then, sounding doubtful, she said, “I can try.”

“It’s just like when you’re clinging to the very top of a tree when on expedition with me,” he said. “Just describe the parts, and I’ll work on putting it together.”

“Okay.”

As she worked with Esau, Ari leaned close to Janco. “I hope she’s better at description than you are.”

Janco made a rude noise. “Forgive me for not being perfect at everything.”

When they finished, Esau showed them the picture. The woman had blond hair and large oval eyes. Pretty and pale like an Ixian, she appeared to be in her late thirties. Janco didn’t recognize her.

Yelena cursed. “That’s Selene Moon.”

“Who’s Selene?” Janco asked.

“Owen’s wife. She was born in the Greenblade Clan but took his clan’s name when they married. I don’t remember her file saying anything about her being good with plants,” Yelena mused.

Oh. “Hasn’t she been incarcerated in Dawnwood prison for her role in Leif’s kidnapping a few years ago?”

“Obviously not anymore.” Yelena fisted her hands and pressed them into her lap. “She’s a powerful magician. That’s bad enough, but now I’m wondering who else Owen rescued from prison.”

Janco groaned at the prospect of dozens of murderers and criminals helping Bruns and company. Bad enough that they had magicians on their side. Oh, yeah. This just kept getting better and better.

16

YELENA

My heart twisted at the thought of Owen rescuing his wife, Selene, and other criminals from the Sitian prisons. With close to four years to pick and choose who to release, and with Loris’s and Cilly’s magic to help alter the correctional officers’ memories and implant new false ones, he could have recruited a small army of professional delinquents. If Owen hadn’t rescued his brother from Wirral’s maximum security wing, we might never have discovered he was still alive. Good thing Owen made mistakes. Those would, hopefully, lead to his defeat.

We all sat around the campfire, lost in our own thoughts. The logs snapped and crackled as the flames licked at them with greedy orange tongues.

“Now we know that either Oran or Selene is the Master Gardener. How does that help us?” Janco asked.

I considered. “We could kidnap Oran and find out where all the other glass hothouses are located. Cutting off the Cartel’s supply of Theobroma would be a major blow.”

“Would he tell us?” Onora asked.

“Unless he’s immune to goo-goo juice, he should.”

Onora crinkled her nose at the mention of the juice.

Janco rubbed the scar where the lower half of his ear used to be. “Wouldn’t that tip the Cartel off to what we’re doing? If it was me, and one of my expert green thumbs disappeared, I’d triple the guards around all those hothouses and Theobroma factories.”

He had a point. I borrowed one of Valek’s tactics. “What do you suggest?”

“I found that complex by following the delivery wagon from the garrison. We could send teams to all the garrisons and locate all the hothouses and factories.”

We already knew who supplied the Greenblade garrison, so that left ten garrisons, requiring twenty people. Fisk could probably provide the manpower. Could we locate and destroy them in time? We had guessed the Cartel and the Commander would complete the takeover of Sitia by the middle of the hot season. The Theobroma took at least seven days to wear off. To be on the safe side, all the Theobroma would need to be destroyed by the beginning of the hot season, which was sixty-six days away. It should be enough time, but what if we missed one of the factories?

I voiced my concerns to the others.

“Fisk’s kids are good for surveillance, but I wouldn’t ask them to attack professional soldiers,” Ari said. “Plus, as soon as we hit one compound, all the others will be alerted. We don’t have enough people to strike all the hothouses at one time.”

Another good point.

Esau squirmed in his seat and ran a hand through his gray hair. He had a pained expression that I’d learned to recognize. “Do you have a suggestion, Father?” I asked.